Trainers & Staff

We’re people with aspirations and goals just like you. We dread the thought of not being able to do something because of physical limitations. We’re skiers, climbers, firefighters, students, mountain bikers, trail runners, swimmers, blah, blah, blah. What’s more important is what we have in common with you.

We chose CrossFit because we sought the same fitness level that you seek now. It started as an interest in being able to reach our goals as they relate to sport, but have since far outreached those boundaries. Now we seek to improve every aspect of our daily lives through fitness. To be able to perform our jobs better, to be surrounded by people who will celebrate our first pull up, to have a place to go to blow off a little steam, to try things that most adults would consider childish (which we consider cool).

You see, CrossFit has added value to our lives and we want you to be a part of that. Everything about CrossFit is challenging – driving to the gym and ignoring those butterflies in your stomach, willing yourself to take your intensity to new levels, finishing the filthy fifty as prescribed, and trying not to spend all day checking to see if tomorrow’s WOD has been posted yet. What makes it so fun is the fact that you are challenging yourself, along with every other person at CrossFit Verve. You can share that pain with each other and somehow it becomes a success story – everyday.

Get to know the Verve Trainers & Staff, click each tab for more info:

Verve Full Time Staff:

Courtney

Courtney Shepherd

CrossFit Verve Co-owner

CrossFit Verve Head Trainer

CrossFit HQ Seminar Staff

Certified CrossFit Trainer (CCFT)

Firefighter / Paramedic

CrossFit related certifications and seminars:

CF-L1 Trainer

Naka Athletics Gymnastics Seminar

CrossFit Goal Setting

CrossFit Kids

CrossFit Movement and Mobility

CrossFit Coach’s Prep Course

CrossFit Olympic Lifting

CrossFit Defense

Strength Specific Seminar- Bronze, Silver Level

CrossFit Kettlebell

CrossFit Powerlifting

CrossFit Competitors Course

CrossFit Football

Competition experience:

CrossFit Games Sectional 2010- Individual

CrossFit Games Regional 2010- Individual

CrossFit Games Regional 2014 – Team

CrossFit Games Regional 2015 – Team

Previous competitive athletic experience:

Police and Fire Games

Swimming

Various 5Ks

Recreational athletic experience:

Hiking 14ers, softball, water polo, wake boarding, water skiing, surfing, and pretty much any activity that involves water.

My passions:
I am passionate about knowledge. I am passionate about gaining it and about sharing it. I do not believe knowledge should be a kept secret. My favorite question is “why?” I do not ask why in an attempt to buck the system or question authority, I do it to gain insight and understanding. Doing or teaching something becomes easier for me when I know the “why”. I wanted to know why I had amazing results with Crossfit and what it does for me physically, mentally, and emotionally. The answers to those questions continue to come to me – they are not finite. My knowledge in the area of Crossfit grows daily and I became a trainer so that I could help share it.

Clancy

Eric Clancy

CrossFit Verve Co-owner

CrossFit Verve Head Trainer

CrossFit related certifications:

CF-L1 Trainer

CF-L2 Trainer

CrossFit Kids

CrossFit Competitors Course

CF-Olympic Weightlifting

Competition experience:

2013 CrossFit Games South West Regional Team Verve

2012 3rd Place Team LODO Open

2012 2nd Place Team Rhinos and Unicorns

Recreational activities:

Skiing, baseball, basketball

About me:
I grew up playing all types of sports. I played college baseball and basketball. After school I was looking for something that would support my competitive drive. My brothers, both in the NAVY, turned me on to Crossfit. After my first workout I was hooked.

I love helping people achieve their goals no matter how big or small they are. I love studying human movement and pushing the limits of what’s possible in the gym. Away from the gym I like anything that gets me outdoors. Snowboarding in the winter and playing golf in the warm weather are two of my favorites.

Anna

Anna Mattson

Crossfit Verve Trainer

Crossfit related certifications and seminars:

CF-L1 Trainer

CF-L2 Trainer

Crossfit Coaches Prep

Naka Atheltics Gymnastics Course

CrossFit Weightlifting

CrossFit Mobility

CrossFit Football

CrossFit Competitor

Competition Experience:

2010 Winter Open – Tucson, AZ

2010 AC2 Affiliate Cup – Flagstaff, AZ

2010 Southwest Regionals – Individual

2011 Colorado Open – Individual

2011 Turkey Challenge – Team

2011 Southwest Regionals – Team

2012 Southwest Regionals – Team Verve

2014 Southwest Regionals – Team Verve

Recreational athletic experience:

Biking, Light Hiking, basic run-of-the-mill awesome stuff!

About Me:
Well, lets see here. I was born in Edina, MN back when dinosaurs roamed the land. I moved to Colorado at a pretty young age and consider myself a native. I grew up competing in gymnastics, then dance, and finishing off with cheerleading through college. After college, I was not able to find anything out there that sparked my joy of competition so I joined the globo gym and did countless bicep curls and leg presses. I found Crossfit 5 years ago and have been hooked ever since. It has not only changed my body, but has ignited a passion and interest in human movement and nutrition that I didn’t know existed. Being at Crossfit Verve and interacting with Verve’s community inspires me daily to seek knowledge on how to improve the well-being of myself and others.

Paul

Paul Buono

CrossFit Verve Trainer

Certifications:

CF-L1 Trainer

CF-L2 Trainer

CrossFit Gymnastics

CrossFit Weightlifting

CrossFit Endurance

OPEX Assessment

OPEX Program Design

About Me:

I started my fitness journey after I had torn my labrum in my left shoulder during my senior year of high school football season. I started working out to help me rehab by shoulder in order to play lacrosse the following spring. After a couple months of working out, I became obsessive compulsive about my body image, which inevitably led to anxiety, depression and an eating disorder. During my junior year of college, I tried CrossFit while seeking a way to cope with these issues and realized I had found my niche: an exercise program which puts emphasis on what you can do, rather than your appearance. Immediately, I fell in love with the program, but more so the community and support I received. Through CrossFit I found a better lifestyle and a better person beneath it all. I now try my best to inspire others to be their best version of themselves.

Danni

Danni Brooks

Office/Athlete Service Coordinator

CrossFit related certifications and seminars:

CF-L1 Trainer

Naka Athletics Gymnastics Seminar with Carl Paoli

CrossFit Defense – Tony Blauer’s Be Your Own Bodyguard

Strength Specific Seminar- Silver Level

CrossFit Weightlifting Seminar

Competition experience:

CrossFit Games Open 2012

CrossFit Games Open 2013

Recreational athletic experience:

Snowboarding, hiking, swimming, fishing, camping. Anything outdoors!

After starting CrossFit in early 2009, I have had an extremely life changing experience. As much as I would love to say that I was an athletic person growing up, or that I played a lot of sports in high school, I was in fact the complete opposite. When I met my husband in 2004, we fell into the rut of fast food, and late nights out. Realizing that our lifestyle wasn’t keeping us in the healthiest state of mind, he convinced me to try CrossFit at a local box. Engaging with the community, and pushing myself in ways I have never experienced completely changed my mentality. Together we discovered the importance of nutrition, and learning how to keep our bodies healthy for longevity. After joining CrossFit Verve in June of 2011, I have found an even deeper passion for health and fitness, and have been blessed to have the privilege of calling Verve my permanent home. I absolutely love everything that CrossFit has done for me, and seeing what it transforms people into. Although I will probably never be the most competitive athlete, I fully enjoy setting and achieving my own personal goals. I thrive off of helping others, and I thoroughly enjoy keeping myself educated in order to provide accurate knowledge to continuing living a healthy and happy life.

Verve Part-Time Staff:

Zink

Chris Zienkievicz

CrossFit Verve Trainer

Firefighter

CrossFit Level 1 Trainer

CrossFit Barbell

CrossFit Olympic Lifting

CrossFit Kids

CrossFit Coaches Prep

CrossFit Powerlifting

CrossFit Mobility

I grew up in the Denver area and started playing hockey at a young age. I left CO my junior year of high school to pursue my career as a hockey player. After a few years bouncing around from team to team and a few injuries while playing juniors I came back home. Upon my return I starting coaching AAA hockey and have since seen many of the kids go on to play D-1 and get drafted in the NHL. I started working as a firefighter in 04’ and it was through the fire service that I found CrossFit.

I truly enjoy coaching CrossFit and helping people with their physical goals, as well as being a part of the great community. It is a great feeling as a coach to help someone do something they once thought was impossible. I believe in the philosophy that their is no “I Cant” just “Not yet”.

About Me:
I was born and raised in Bismarck, ND where I grew up playing soccer, basketball and volleyball through high school. I moved to Colorado in 2005, and found CrossFit in 2009, which got me back into athletics and being competitive with myself on a daily/weekly basis. Seeing the improvements in my health and fitness only triggered more of an interest in CrossFit for me. I believe in being fit not only for myself but to live a longer, happier, healthier life for my friends and family. “Practice what you preach” is very important to me as an athlete, coach, and teacher. I love coaching at CrossFit Verve not only because of the amazing community we have, but I truly love to see all the excitement when athletes see their fitness improving and realize they just got a PR whether that be on a lift or just completing a movement as prescribed for the first time in a WOD!

About Me:
I was born in Denver and learned to ski in Crested Butte, which paved for a life long passion for the outdoors and adventures. Athletics have always been a part of my life and my family ensured that I was always involved with one or two sports at a time. Swimming and skiing were areas that I spent most of my time training as a young person. I ski raced in college, which was a great way to stay fit with an awesome team. I worked as a ski instructor and coach for many years and learned to love mt. biking, kayaking and climbing, as well. Moving to Denver was a bit of a change, since I didn’t have a river, climbing wall or trail in my back yard.I missed having a group of friends that were intense with their athletics who pushed me until I found CrossFit. I quickly realized that I could get the benefits from a great community in an athletic setting at Verve. It was truly life changing, and it took me from a “late 30’s” funk to truly happiness through fitness. I am so excited to coach people at Verve, and help athletes push themselves to be the best that they can be. It makes my day when people want to share about how well they did in a competition or how good they look and feel from CrossFit. Knowing that I have had a part to make people stronger, both mentally and physically, is the foundation why I love working at Verve.

About Me:
Before I discovered rowing, I knew that I was athletic, I just wasn’t sure exactly how quite yet. Nothing fit. Picking up an oar was the first time that I felt powerful. The great and awful thing about rowing is that although it is extremely physical, being able to succeed physically depends almost entirely on your mind: are you tough enough? That question always thrilled and terrified me. Especially because that question isn’t isolated to the boat but translates to how we handle adversity throughout our lives. Do we back down, or do we stand and fight?
So many aspects of rowing run through Crossfit and especially here at Verve – the precision, the community, the physicality, the mentality – and these pieces are what have brought me to the sport. I fell into coaching because I love to help people discover and build each of these components. My goal as a coach is always to help people explore not only the physicality of Crossfit (because that business is fun!) but also explore their own mentality to discover and be surprised at just how tough they are when things get interesting.

Ryan

Ryan Young

CrossFit Verve Trainer

Crossfit related certifications and seminars:

CF-L1 Trainer

CF-L2 Trainer

CrossFit Kids

CrossFit Mobility

CrossFit Weightlifting Seminar

About Me:

When I am not kickin’ it with my wife and two sons, or working (5th grade teacher), I am doing CrossFit. I was introduced to Crossfit in 2009 and absolutely loved it. I couldn’t do pull-ups or climb a rope but I was hooked. Fast forward to today and I look forward to them. CrossFit has dramatically changed my life and I love helping people realize the same benefits in their lives. Outside of the gym if there is any time left, I enjoy snowboarding, mountain biking, new shoes, buffets, pulling weeds, going to the movies, and doing dishes.

The best thing about CrossFit, besides burpees and yoga pants, has got to be the cost. I mean community. You get like 80 new Facebook friends really fast. You actually do create lasting relationships with great people. There’s something about spotting someone while they back squat that creates a bond like nothing else.

Dan

Dan Pope

CrossFit Verve – Trainer

Physical Therapist

Certifications:

CF-L1 Trainer

Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist

Previous competitive athletic experience:

Collegiate Track and Field (Polevaulting)

2009 State and National Champion in Strongman 200 and 175lb class

2010 Individual Competitor Crossfit Regionals

2014 CrossFit Games South West Regional Team Verve

Recreational athletic experience:

Hiking, Camping, Mountain Biking

About Me:
I’m a true meathead at heart. I’ve had a huge passion for exercise, nutrition and rehabilitation from an early age. This led me to a career in fitness and physical therapy. I received my undergraduate degree at Rutgers University and then finished my doctorate at Rutgers in Physical Therapy as well. My goals are to help bridge the gap between rehabilitation and performance.

Jay

Jay Cain

CrossFit Verve Trainer

Certifications:

CF-L1 Trainer

CF-Weightlifting Seminar

Competition Experience

2013 Turkey Challenge (Team Open)

Recreational athletic experience:

Basketball, boxing, soccer

About Me:

I grew up playing basketball, football, baseball, and soccer. The end of my junior year in high school I focused primarily on basketball. From there, I went to Regis University on a collegiate basketball scholarship. After basketball, I started competing in amateur boxing and participated in the Golden Gloves as a light heavy weight (came in 2nd place).

Now, I’m a family man with 3 children, that enjoys being fit and being involved with a community that is about creating and living a healthy life. CrossFit provides that platform for me, and what better gym than Verve!